Heard Tell · Andrew Donaldson

Why Box Office Is Way Up From Last Year, Disney & Live Action Remakes, Film Reviews w/ Luis Mendez

June 11, 2025·1 hr 4 min·5 clips

Why a 20-year-old Stitch attraction at Disneyland made the live-action remake a Memorial Day hit.

Movies, not tariffs. The host opens by saying he has just written 1,600 words about tariffs and would rather talk movies. Luis Mendez returns as a film critic who can handle the business side, not just whether a movie worked for him. The contrast is the hook. A year earlier, Memorial Day weekend had been one of the worst box office weekends of all time. This year looked very different, so the host asks Mendez to explain the swing without turning it into hype. They keep the conversation practical. Movies are treated as art, commerce, and studio decision-making all at once. Disney becomes the pressure point. The host asks why a studio that once seemed to watch directors closely from the beginning now releases films that feel pulled in very different directions. Mendez slows that down. Studio meddling, he says, has been around since the start of film, and it is not always the villain. Some directors need limits. His answer lands on balance: respect the filmmaker's vision, but remember the studio still has to make money. The examples stay grounded. Mickey 17 comes up as a recent Warner Brothers film from the director of Parasite, a case where past success can buy a filmmaker more room. The host keeps bringing the conversation back to streaming pressure, COVID-era pressure, quality versus quantity, and what studios are willing to risk. By the end, Mendez points listeners to his work under the Mendez Movie Report name and notes that summer box office will give him plenty to cover.

As heard by us

A plainspoken box-office chat that connects studio strategy to audience taste.

Herd Tell uses a strong Memorial Day box-office rebound to press a familiar question with a sharper edge: are studios making things harder than they need to be for audiences?

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a sane take on why box office numbers actually move?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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